


canyons of steel and light

by apollothyme



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Everything I write is fluff literally everything, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 07:44:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1337560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollothyme/pseuds/apollothyme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The universe conspires against Johnny Storm and forces him to take Physics in his last year of university. It's alright, though. Johnny's got a pretty good tutor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	canyons of steel and light

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [Wąwozy stali i światła](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2295032) by [Pochodnia (kasssumi)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasssumi/pseuds/Pochodnia)



> Originally posted as a [small drabble](http://johnnytempestade.tumblr.com/post/78871990425/college-au-johnny-peter) on my tumblr. Thanks to the wonderful [Jojo](makomoris.tumblr.com) for being super awesome and beta'ing this.
> 
> All mistakes are mine. Any critiques, comments, reviews or basic spell-checks are always appreciated. x

"Oh my god, I can't do this. I can't breathe. I need air. I need to leave."

"What you need--" Peter kicks Johnny right in the shin underneath the table, making Johnny yelp and fall back down on his chair before he can make his desperate escape, "is to focus and study."

"But I can't, Peter. I can't. I'm going mad, I'm suffocating and everything is pain and misery in my soul. I am dying, I swear."

Peter looks up from the textbook in front of him, but doesn't bother lifting his head from the palm of his hand to give Johnny the stink eye, perfectly coupled with a hint of a sneer.

"Please, be more dramatic. Throw some confetti while you're at it. Make me feel the real depth of your emotions and question the undertone behind your rich, compelling acting."

Johnny flicks a couple of pens at him. "You don't have to be such a dick."

"Ditto."

Johnny sighs and forces himself to sit up straight, so that he gets a couple of extra inches on Peter and wins back the status quo.

It is entirely possible at this point of time that Johnny's entire brain has melted from studying physics for two straight hours, and nothing he says, does or thinks makes sense anymore.

He really wasn't kidding when he said he was going mad.

Johnny is, by nature, an active, fast-paced person always looking for something new, better and bigger to do. This whole sitting still and beating his brain into submission with numbers and things like Newton's laws of motions and Euler's laws of motions and fuck knows who else's laws of motions is not Johnny's cup of tea. He doesn't even need to learn any of this crap. He's majoring in Economics, for god's sake, but trust his liberal, messy ass giant university to consider physics a required class for all majors.

Also trust Johnny to decide that taking this damn class in his very last year and skipping half the lessons was a great idea. He's not the best decision maker in the world, no.

"Can we please, please, please take a break? Five minutes, ten minutes tops," Johnny begs, he actually, genuinely begs, clapping his hands together and giving Peter his best puppy eyes.

"Fine," Peter says with an long suffering sigh, even though he looks a little happy to get a moment of rest away from physics and Johnny's complaining. Johnny doesn’t blame him. He wants to get away from his own complaining too. It’s a perfectly rational, understandable wish.

They go outside for a breath of fresh air and a new batch of hot coffee, taking their textbooks and backpacks with them just in case.

"Hey, man, I know I'm being kind of a pain in the ass--"

"Kind of," Peter scoffs. He lifts his hands in apology when Johnny gives him a half-hearted glare.

"But I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out with this. If you ever need anything from me, just let me know."

"Anything?" Peter lifts both his eyebrows, looking at him in surprise.

Johnny rolls his eyes. "As long as it's legal, affordable, and not horrible. Like a good meal or something."

"What? Like on a date?" Peter’s eyes widen the slightest bit, as if he’s surprised at himself for making the question. He rubs the back of his neck and shifts from foot to foot, which makes Johnny smile.

For the first time since they met two months ago, Johnny takes a good look at Peter Parker. Reed was the one who introduce them to each other after he heard Johnny complain he needed help with his Physics class, and Peter say he needed the extra cash. Despite melting Johnny’s brain into a sad puddle of goo every time they had one, his studying sessions with Peter were an overall good idea, and benefited both of them. If it weren’t for them, they probably would never have met.

Peter is a biology major, and he has a part nerd, part lazy skater look going on. He wears baggy jackets and rides a skateboard to college every morning, but at the same time he's got ridiculous, hipster glasses and speaks science like it's his second language. He's got big doe eyes and a smile that drips of mischief, and Johnny’s thought about shutting him up with a kiss a couple of times, in that thoughtless, ‘please stop rambling about how great Newton is’ way. He’s also funny as hell, great on the eyes and easy to talk to.

Now that he thinks about it, Johnny’s not sure why he never thought to ask Peter on a date before. Most likely because, up until now, he thought Peter was straight, which is a rather big error on Johnny’s behalf. No straight man knows and adores Sebastian Stan that much, and Peter is, without a single doubt, Stan’s biggest fan.

Johnny doesn’t judge him. He’s got a heart that swings both ways and 20/20 eyesight and damn, Sebastian Stan is hot.

"Absolutely,” Johnny says, completely unable to even try to stop himself from grinning like an idiot. “Next friday, I'll pick you at seven?"

Peter nods, dumbfounded, as if he can't believe this is really happening. They both smile at each other like a good-looking pair of morons for five seconds before they snap out of it and go back to the library to study.

It’s fine, though. All of a sudden, studying physics with Peter in a nice, cozy corner of the library no longer seems like such a bad idea.

Johnny regrets that thought five minutes later when Peter makes him do a whole page full of exercises and he makes Johnny want to slam his head against the table and cry until his eyes run out of water and he’s nothing but a waterless sack of skin. Sue was right. Johnny really is the king of drama. He lets his head flop on the table and groans when he tries to pick up his pencil and realizes even that is tiring.

“Come on,” Peter nudges Johnny’s foot with his and then rests his feet next to Johnny’s, “I’ll let you pick the restaurant if you do these.”

Johnny lifts his head from the table an inch to give Peter his best wounded eyes. “I was gonna pick the restaurant anyway.”

“What? And you weren’t going to ask for my input?” Peters makes a ‘tsk tsk’ noise and shakes his finger at Johnny, but he’s smiling and still nudging Johnny’s foot with his own, so it’s fine.

“I was gonna take you somewhere cool. It’d be a surprise and you’d be all ‘Oh, Johnny this is wonderful’, and I’d be all ‘only the best for you, babe’. It was gonna be very romantic.”

Peter laughs, throwing his head back to expose the long line of his neck. “I’m amazed at how quickly you thought out all that.”

Johnny laughs with him and taps the side of his head with his index finger. “It’s all in here.”

The smile Peter has on his face is one of fondness and admiration, and Johnny can’t help feeling a hint of pride at being the one who put it there. He picks up his pencil again and looks at the exercises in front of him. He can do this. He’s studied this and Peter is right there, always willing to help and Johnny’s not going to be stumped by some Physics exercises, of all things.

Peter buys him a chocolate bar as a reward for doing all the exercises in less than thirty minutes--ah! suck on that Physics!--and Johnny goes home with a smile on his face and thoughts about the date to come in his head.

He said all that to Peter about taking him somewhere cool, but Johnny doesn’t actually know any places that would fall under ‘cool’ while still maintaining a fancy, date-like atmosphere. Peter seems like the type of guy who likes themed restaurants, so Johnny spends two hours that night finding the right place, not paying too much attention to the price. First date is a first date, and Johnny always goes in with the mission to impress, charm and delight.

They’ll need to do something after they eat dinner. Movies are out of the question, since you can’t talk and Johnny always finds sitting there in silence for two hours awkward. A walk in the park, then? Peter seems like the artist-y type, so Johnny could learn a bunch of random names and terms and take him to a small art gallery, where he’ll be able to further impress Peter with his amazing art knowledge.

But what type of gallery should he pick? Painting, photography or sculpture?

“Hey, Sue!” Johnny calls, not taking his eyes off his laptop as he continues scrolling down Wikipedia. After a couple of seconds a head pops into his bedroom.

“Yes?” Sue asks.

“You’re into art, right? What’s best for a first date, art, photography or sculpture?”

“Depends on the person,” Sue says with a shrug of her shoulders, “Who’s the lucky lady?”

“Guy, actually. It’s Peter, Reed’s friend.”

“Your nerdy Physics tutor with the huge glasses? Didn’t know you liked him,” Sue leans against the doorway and gives Johnny a considering look that makes Johnny want to look away in embarrassment. He doesn’t, obviously. You’ve got to stand your ground with Sue or she’ll smell the fear on you and you’re done for good. She answers Johnny’s question from earlier only after she’s done searching the insides of Johnny’s soul or whatever it was she was doing. “I’ve seen him with a camera a couple of times. Take him to a photography gallery.”

She winks at Johnny and walks away, making Johnny shout at her retreating back. “Thank you!”

Photography gallery it is then.

Johnny spends the rest of the night memorizing all the photography terms Wikipedia tells him, and the next day memorizing famous photographers.

Sue raises an eyebrow at him when sees him carrying a photography magazine, and makes a passing comment about Johnny putting in more effort into this date than he’s ever put into any other. Johnny replies by blowing a raspberry at her.

It’s true that he usually doesn’t work as hard to impress someone, but usually Johnny goes on dates with people who haven’t seen him groan for five minutes straight and weep in the face of extremely difficult Physics exercises. Of all the people Johnny’s ever taken out on a date, Peter is the one who knows him best and who’s seen Johnny at his worst, which means Johnny has to step his game up if he wants to make Peter see him in a different, more flattering light.

By Friday, Johnny knows the names, backstories and work of fifteen different photographers, four of which have work in the gallery he picked for them to visit, and he’s ready to impress and dazzle. Which is why, of course, Peter cancels on last minute notice. He sends a text message saying he has to take his aunt to the hospital, he’s really sorry, could they maybe get a raincheck on the date to tomorrow?

Johnny replies ‘sure’ without hesitation. He doesn’t have any other plans, and he’s not a colossal dick, so he’s obviously not going to begrudge Peter for taking his aunt to the hospital. He calls the restaurant and cancels their reservation, happy that at least he was stood up when he was still at home.

Johnny spends the next two hours texting Peter, through which he discovers Peter’s aunt is named May, and she’s been feeling really sick from her vertigo condition the last couple of days. There’s no emergency, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Since Peter’s uncle is stuck at stuck at work, Peter, being a good nephew, offered to take her.

When Peter finally texts him, a little after half past nine, saying they’re back home safe and sound and Aunt May’s feeling a little bit better, Johnny barely hesitates before he sends off a quick ‘you still up for dinner?’

Peter’s reply takes a while, and Johnny uses the time productively by pacing around his room, tidying up his already tidy bed, looking at himself in the mirror every ten seconds and eating a whole muffin mom bought for him earlier. The last part confuses even himself.

And when the reply finally comes, it’s a simple ‘there’s this rlly good indian plce near my house’ followed by the address and a ‘c u in 30?’. Johnny’s dressed and out the door in ten.

“I hope you like your food spicier than the food served in hell because they make a mean spicy curry here, and their curry is literally the best thing ever,” is the first thing Peter says to him, which sounds all suave and smooth, but the way he’s grinning from ear to ear and looking back at Johnny every two seconds to make sure he’s really there tells Johnny a different story.

“And hello to you, too,” Johnny leans down to whisper right against Peter’s ear, flicking off his still kind of wet hair, fresh from the shower. The fact that Peter had so clearly rushed to meet him, putting on a nice blazer, something Johnny didn’t even know he owned, makes Johnny happy. A lot.

So maybe he’s a little more into Peter Parker than he thought. Maybe.

“Hope your aunt gets better soon,” Johnny says after they’re seated at a small table near one of the corners. “Are you close with your aunt and uncle?”

Peter looks away for a second before he looks back at Johnny and gives him a small, sad smile, “My parents died when I was a kid. Aunt May and Uncle Ben got custody and they’ve been, well, they’ve pretty much been my parents ever since.”

Johnny hesitates on what to say. ‘I’m sorry’ always felt cold to him, a blanket statement to throw around without thought. ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ is too formal, too much.

“She seems lovely. I’m sure your uncle is great too.”

“They are,” Peter says, smiling as he relaxes into his seat. “What about you?”

“Still live with my parents. They have an apartment here and it didn’t really make much sense to leave Manhattan when you’ve got everything here,” Johnny pauses for a second before he rolls on. “Me and Sue are both adopted. I never met my birth parents, but Sue got to meet her birth dad a couple of years ago and he was…” Johnny wrinkles his nose as he trails off.

“That bad?”

“Yeah, and just kind of sad, you know? He wanted money from her. She told me she gave him the finger and walked off, but I’m pretty sure she gave him everything that was in her wallet before that,” Johnny leans back against his chair and slaps his hands against his knees, as if wanting to break the solemn spell that’s falling over them. When he speaks next he’s louder, more determined. “It’s fine, though. Mom and dad are both amazing and the best parents we could ask for, and that’s all that matters.”

Peter smiles and turns to Johnny, ready to ask something before he frowns and cuts himself off, and Johnny will be damned if the sight of Peter wrinkling his nose isn’t one of the cutest he’s ever seen. Oh man, he’s in trouble. He’s in really big trouble.

Peter doesn’t notice the internal monologue going on inside Johnny’s head, and he explains himself instead. “I was gonna ask you what are your plans after college, but I don’t want sound like I’m running a background check on you.”

Johnny laughs, staring at Peter in amazement. “This is a date, what else are we supposed to do?”

“I know, but like, I always find it awkward when you just talk about yourself for two hours,” Peter pauses to think and then adds, “You’re kind of right, though. I mean we could guess? Like instead of talking, we’d play charades to know more about the other person, but I’m pretty sure that’s worse.”

Johnny laughs and it’s a little awkward--okay, incredibly awkward--but it’s not a bad kind of awkward? It’s more of ‘I still like you so it’s fine’ kind of awkward, which Johnny doesn’t mind. It was meant to happen anyway. All dates have awkward moments.

Their waiter comes by and takes their orders, one chicken curry, one prawn curry and a side order or naan bread. Peter looks like he’s one second away from searching for a shovel to dig a hole where he can hide, though, so Johnny decides to take pity on him.

“I don’t know what I want to do yet. College isn’t really my thing, but I wanted to make mom and dad proud, so here I am, taking a degree in Economics, which is like, the most boring thing in the world.”

“More boring than Physics?” Peter smirks.

“Okay, second most boring thing in the world.”

"So I take it you don't want to get a job at Wall Street after graduation?"

Johnny shakes his head and laughs. "Definitely not."

"So..." Peter prompts. "What do you want to do then?"

"I'll tell you only if you promise not to laugh," Johnny says, looking at Peter in the eye.

"I won't, I promise. Scout's honor!"

Johnny slits his eyes, giving Peter a doubtful look.

"You were never a scout, were you?"

Peter doesn't reply, crossing his heart and giving Johnny his best innocent, puppy eyes. Johnny's eyes close even further with distrust before he sighs and says, "I want to be a driver. Daredevil, stunt, F1 driver. I'm not picky."

He waits for it, but the laugh never comes. "You should go for it. I mean, it's kind of dangerous, but if it's what you want to do then hey, _yolo_."

"You just won yourself another fifty lame points," Johnny says, lifting his hands when Peter complains. "Hey, I don't make the rules. It's just how it is."

Their food shows up and it’s as delicious and as spicy as Peter promised, so obviously Johnny loves it to death even if his tasting glands beg to differ. They talk for a little while longer, basic date chat mixed with school talk mixed with ‘if I’m a nerd, what does that make you?’, the last part something Johnny ignores completely. He’s no nerd, thank you very much. He only owns three nerdy shirts, which is totally beneath the quota for a proper nerd title. Peter, on the other hand, must have like, fifty.

“Twenty-seven actually. Aunt May prohibited me from buying more until I bought some ‘real clothes’, so I’m on a t-shirt break for now. Mugs, though. Mugs are my secret mistress.”

Johnny leans down his head to give Peter his best ‘disappointed in you’ look.

“Yeah, I only realized how it sounded after I said it,” Peter adds, making Johnny laugh and the moment is as far from awkward as it can be. Johnny’s pretty pleased about that.

Johnny pays the bill, saying he was the one who asked Peter on a date so he should be the one paying, not so subtly adding that Peter can pay next time.

Peter smiles, soft and almost kind of shy and says, “Alright,” which Johnny takes as a very positive sign.

“So, what else did you have in plan for tonight? Sorry you didn’t get the chance to impress me with the super cool plans.”

“I was gonna take you to a photography gallery, which closed…” Johnny takes a look at his phone, “ten minutes ago. Next time?”

“Next time.”

They walk side by side, close to the buildings so they can avoid the loud night crowd. Peter’s home is down a few blocks so Johnny offers to walk him home. Johnny is not a particularly romantic person, which means you won’t hear him say things like “I don’t want this night to end,” often, but if you did catch him saying that, it’d probably be tonight.

Johnny is so screwed.

They get to Peter’s house in about twenty minutes. The light on the front porch is on, and Johnny decides to walk Peter to his door, where they can say goodbye in private.

“You know, I didn’t expect this night to turn out like this,” Peter says, giving Johnny an appraising look. He’s leaning against the front door, crossed legs and hands in his pockets, looking perfectly relaxed and confident.

“Oh?” Johnny asks, wary of what’s coming next. Has he fucked up somehow? He thought he’d done alright, but maybe Peter thinks he’s like, too clingy or something? Shit.

“I thought you were going to tell me to fuck off after I asked for a raincheck.”

“Hey!” Johnny exclaims, making Peter hold his hands up in a defensive gesture.

“Sorry! But I don’t know, I didn’t think you were actually interested in me, and before tonight I always thought you were a bit of a dick.”

“Yeah, people often get that impression,” Johnny says, storing that thought away even though he knows he’ll never think about it again. “Not anymore, though?”

“No, not so much. You’re actually pretty nice,” Peter says, smiling at Johnny as if he knows how much it annoys Johnny to hear the half-hearted compliment.

“Well, that’s a good thing then, since I do like you, a lot,” Johnny’s voice drops down a couple of octaves as he takes a step towards Peter.

Peter looks at him through his lashes, grinning all innocent and pretending to be naive when there’s not a single inch of Peter Parker that isn’t filled with sarcasm and knowledge. Johnny wants to wipe that grin off his face, with his mouth preferably, but Peter beats him to it. He puts both hands on Johnny’s hips and pulls Johnny, closing the empty space between them with a lazy kiss to Johnny’s lips that is both deeply unsatisfying for being too short and freaking amazing.

“I’ll see you on Monday,” Peter says against Johnny’s lips. He’s slipped one of his hands beneath Johnny’s shirt and he’s rubbing the skin there, a constant ghosting motion that has Johnny shivering involuntarily. Peter smirks at him.

Bastard. Peter is an absolute bastard. Why does Johnny like him so much again?

“Oh, and I think Aunt May and Uncle Ben are going out Tuesday for dinner, so you could come over,” Peter whispers, grazing his lips against the black skin of Johnny’s jaw.

Alright. So that’s why.

“Monday,” Johnny says.

“And Tuesday.”

Johnny takes a step back before things get a little too heated or they get caught, steeling himself with a deep breath. He is as chill as a cucumber, and he’s not getting riled up by Peter Nerdy Parker on a date that isn’t even a date, on Peter’s front porch. Nope.

“I’ll see you then,” Johnny says, and then, just because he can, he leans down and drops a quick kiss on Peter’s lips before he does a full one-eighty and leaves.

When he gets home, Sue makes fun of him and his dopey smile. Johnny retaliates by stealing her laptop and leaving as many embarrassing posts on her facebook wall as he can before Sue finds the extra key to his bedroom.

It’s a pretty good night. Not what Johnny expected, but definitely not bad either, and it was all thanks to his Physics class. Go figure.


End file.
